Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

the untapped knowledge of LPs

28 Feb 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief dialogue, two speakers discuss the often-overlooked informational value that limited partners (LPs) hold for general partners (GPs) and entrepreneurs. Speaker A notes that when GPs ask LPs about their investment focus and market observations, they are surprised by the depth of insight residing in LPs’ heads. Speaker B reinforces this, explaining that LPs, who may back dozens or hundreds of venture funds, possess a broader view of market trends and fundraising dynamics than any single GP, making their knowledge a valuable, yet underutilized, resource. Both acknowledge the lack of transparency around LP allocations, highlighting that this opacity prevents entrepreneurs from fully benefiting from LPs’ market intelligence.

Tell me from the GP entrepreneur standpoint, when emerging managers or established managers, I don't think that makes a difference, talks to an LP, ask them about their, what they're investing in and what they're seeing. 'Cause when I ask LPs, I am blown away by the amount of information that's in their head.
Oh yeah. Like, I look pretty happy. I'm like, well, it's, it's kind of nice. It's like, I mean, I think that that's been our bread and butter is like we provide information about like the market, how fundraising is looking to our entrepreneurs. And then I lean on our investors for like the same information. It's like if you're investing in, 30, 100 venture funds, like you're probably gonna know more about the market than like me. And so I think that that's just super helpful. That content. I think it's a huge, hugely untapped resource.
And it gets to, 'cause everyone's like, oh, it's not transparent, which it isn't. And I don't know what LPs are actually investing.